American Routes - History

History

The show was launched in November 1997 on WWOZ in New Orleans. It was created by Nick Spitzer and Mary Beth Kirchner, who had worked together previously producing segments for All Things Considered. By 1998, American Routes was syndicated by American Public Radio for 39 stations.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, production of the show temporarily relocated to KRVS 88.7 FM at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in Lafayette, Louisiana. While in Lafayette, Spitzer and his crew produced a series of shows called "After the Storm," which "followed the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast through the stories and songs of its musicians."

Production operations have since returned to New Orleans with studios now at Tulane University. In July 2008, American Routes announced an affiliation with Tulane.

American Routes celebrated its 10th anniversary on January 16, 2009, with a concert at the House of Blues in New Orleans. Performers included Dr. Michael White, Trombone Shorty and Al Johnson. Performances and interviews from the show were included in a program that aired the week of February 18, 2009.

American Routes has more than 300 original shows in its catalog, and a database of over 1000 hours of interviews.

As of July 6, the program will switch distributors from APM to the Public Radio Exchange, although it will continue to be distributed on the public radio satellite system. It is the second major public radio series to switch to the web-based distributor from one of the "Big 3" public radio distributors, after Sound Opinions switched from APM last year.